A Glance at Solow's Growth Theory

This article examines the growth theory of Robert Solow, which has been a point of reference of economic growth since the 1950s. First, the article analyzes the path-breaking model of growth contained in Solow's article "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth" published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics (1956). Second, it looks at the contribution of Solow to growth accounting and to the new method of studying capital formation in economic growth through the vintage ap- proach. Therefore, the work analyzes the article "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function" published in The Review of Economics and Statistics (1957). In the latter publication, Solow, through the aggregate production function, tries to measure growth and provide an explanation of the nature of technical progress. The article also examines Solow's 1960 essay "Investment and Technical Progress" based on the hypothesis of embodied technological progress and the vintage approach.